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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543411">the book that tells us of constellations</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aikotters/pseuds/aikotters'>aikotters</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>khunbamweek2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, 신의 탑 | Tower of God</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ableism, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, M/M, Magic, Supernatural Illnesses, Undercover Missions, khunbamweek2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:00:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,323</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543411</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aikotters/pseuds/aikotters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe love looks like this, death and dying and the colors of the sky every night where the stars are hidden. Or, Bam is the owner of the Book of Darkness and Khun is the young mage to make sure it kills him. AU.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Khun Aguero Agnis &amp; Twenty-Fifth Baam | Jyu Viole Grace, Khun Aguero Agnis/Twenty-Fifth Baam | Jyu Viole Grace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>khunbamweek2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850698</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warnings: Khun Eduan by proxy, illness, mentions of death, internalized ableism</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His father gives him the order dismissively, as he does everyone. Well, everything. Aguero knows that he isn't special, that he matters as much as the color of the tile or the empty wine casket or the next woman the man brings to his bed.</p><p>Aguero knows he shouldn't be here. He knows that really, he's too young. Not as much as the likes of Endorsi and the junior Anaak but he's young. He's young but this person is probably younger.</p><p>The last owner of the book of darkness.</p><p>A boy with a strange name, a cursed name. His name is a punishment, a rebellion. Hence why he is dying.</p><p>He will be pulled into the book and frozen in time, left to rot in an eternal gentle dream.</p><p>A fitting end for a child called "Bam", night.</p><p>Aguero simply had to be sure to make it happen.</p><p>And he would. Attachments were for people with everything to lose. And he would lose nothing. Not again.</p><p>Also well, if he broke the rules a little along the way, was there really any harm?</p>
<hr/><p>Bam spends most of his days in the city library or at home. He's too ill to go to school consistently, and he has only a guardian to support him, who isn't allowed to visit him often. He can wander around unaided with his chair, though it is exhausting, and he has plenty of money to support himself. But none of those things take the place of companions.</p><p>And the only one he has is…</p><p>"Rachel!" he greets as he pushes himself to the entrance, his old library books in hand. His most important book, the only one he never left without, remains snug in his backpack. It was all he had of his birth family, after all. "Did I keep you waiting?"</p><p>She smiles at him as she lifts her head from the book she's reading. "Nope!"</p><p>Which means he probably did. "I'm sorry…" he said weakly. There was only so much he could do about that.</p><p>Something crosses her face, something he could never understand, which makes her yellow eyes gleam like candle light. "It's okay, Bam. You should let me come pick you up next time."</p><p>"I couldn't do that!" He doesn't know why, but it would sting something in his stomach, for her to watch him as he lifted himself from the couch to the chair, take the tiny chair lift upstairs, or be asleep on the couch because it was just too much. Not humiliating, he'd done it so long he couldn't imagine not doing it unless Jinsung was around, but… painful to deal with.</p><p>He does want her to taste his food someday before he dies.</p><p>"That's too far of a distance and you go to school, Rachel," he says, smiling it off. Because he is happy. He is happy even if it means he has to do a little extra. They only see each other a few times a month. That's enough for him. He's content. She's still looking at him like he's a puzzle to unravel and put away in its box rather than solve. "So how was the book? Master told me to ask you because he's working on a new theory."</p><p>That look, the one that hungers and hurts at the same time, lingers in her eyes for a few moments more until it vanishes and she smiles. "It was really useful actually! I used it on my project in class. One of my classmates did -"</p><p>Bam smiles and lets the chatter wash over him, clutching his book tight.</p><p>He lets her lead and follows. Yes, he's content. Because she could be cruel and mock him behind his back but she had never seemed like that kind of person in the library. She could lie, but she'd never treated him in a way he may not have deserved. And it was nice to talk about books with <em>someone.</em></p><p>They exit as the sun starts going down. It's a long way home for him. "I'm going to stop at the store," he says "It'll be faster."</p><p>"Can I come with you?" Rachel asks, smiling. "I've got a taste for strawberry ice cream."</p><p>Bam swallows and reminds his heart to settle. Settle! He knows from watching other children that friends did this all of the time, but Rachel has been his only friend, and only in the library, so… it's not… he's frightened, a little.</p><p>"Okay," he manages to say, this time leading. She trails after him, looking around the neighborhood in pure curiosity. That's probably the only reason she's not walking and outpacing the slow speed of his wheelchair. He shifts and ducks his head in gratitude.</p><p>The convenience store lady knows him by now and greets him with good cheer. She giggles at Rachel for some reason, who squirms a bit in her uniform at the scrutiny. Bam guesses why but says nothing. Instead he moves down the aisles, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible. THe basket fills up steadily in his lap as he goes through the essentials. Someone slides past his chair and he winces as they collide into one of the armrests.</p><p>"Sorry," they say, looking down at him. "I thought I could slip past."</p><p>Bam doesn't answer at first, too busy trying to readjust the wheels so he doesn't fall over. Then, properly in place again, he offers a timid smile. "It's okay, the aisles here are fairly small, after all. Are you all right?"</p><p>"I'm fine," they say, and Bam catches a glimpse of hard sapphire eyes, smooth as pearls. "Thanks for the concern."</p><p>And then they pass him.</p><p>For some reason, Bam feels disappointment curl heavy in his stomach. But he's used to that, so he swallows it and finishes shopping.</p><p>Rachel has three little containers of ice cream, a sewing kit, and three ready made dinners. "My brothers suck at cooking," she says wearily. "It's just like them."</p><p>Bam doesn't laugh because he doesn't really understand. "I'll give you something to take home sometime," he says instead, already thinking of things a few people can share.</p><p>She smiles at him gratefully, and they separate. She heads down the street, he waits for the bus. The streets are quiet now, quieter than usual. But he pays it no mind. Some weeknights are quieter than others.</p><p>He drums his fingers as the bus arrives, and quickly finds a space. A familiar pair of blue eyes and silvery hair walk past him, but Bam doesn't pay him any mind either. He pulls out one of the books he got instead and reads until they reach his stop.</p><p>The day had been ordinary, as far as days go. But it's almost his birthday. Anything exciting can happen.</p><p>He continues his journey home, the final book, his precious family heirloom thrumming in the darkness of the night.</p><p>He doesn't see the pair of blue eyes watch him make his way up to his home alone, doesn't see them turn the key a few doors away, doesn't see the shimmer of ice blue light around his hands.</p><p>But Aguero sees him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The night before his birthday, Bam goes to bed early. He'd started dinner for tomorrow to slowly cook and his limbs had felt heavier than usual. He notes this before bed, so the doctor can check into it when he goes in the morning.</p><p>At midnight on the twenty-fifth, Bam wakes up in agony.</p><p>This isn't new. At least once a year he wakes up in pain, horrible sweat turning his sleep pants translucent, even his hair hurting in time. Usually his eyes are shut throughout and he eventually passes out. He tells the doctor, he hems and haws (Bam is never sure if he means it or not, despite his kindness), and it doesn't happen for another year so life goes on.</p><p>This time, his eyes are wide open and he's stuck looking at the pale ceiling.<em> It will need a new coat of paint soon,</em> he thinks through his hoarse screaming, rather like it's happening to someone else.</p><p>It hurts.</p><p>And then his vision is obscured by his favorite book. His mother's book.</p><p>The book has never had words, filled instead with blank pages that felt like thick parchment and yet seemed to have no end. And yet now it does, spidery text flying by in a language that means nothing to him. None of his writing utensils had made much of a dent in those pages either. And it glows a soft violet steadily as the pages spread, further and further, engulfing his vision and filling the room with pain and pain and <em>pain</em>.</p><p>He closes his eyes to relieve it and wakes up in a void. The only light is golden and soft beneath his legs, which haven't moved in so long, he can't imagine why they would now.</p><p>A hand brushes his cheek, soft and gentle and Bam lifts his head. It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts. For the first time that he can remember, nothing hurts in him. He looks up and sees a man's face, eyes almost hidden by short red hair. There are tears falling down his face and he strokes Bam's cheek with a careful thumb.</p><p>"Jue Viole Grace," he says, like the name is the most important treasure in the world. "We finally meet, terrible as it is."</p><p>"Who are you?" Bam asks, shivering despite not being cold. It's been so long since he had heard his own full name, since he'd met Mister Jinsung and the rest so long ago.</p><p>The man smiles and it's so sad and beautiful that Bam also wants to cry. "That doesn't matter anymore, my little master. That has been long lost to time. Still, I shouldn't cry. This is a joyous occasion for you. You have a choice, little master. Do you want to live on alone, or do you want to die surrounded with love?"</p><hr/><p>Their master slumbers.</p><p>Such a tiny master, really.</p><p>Albelda doesn't mind this though, her memories are flimsy and paltry at best, the memories of thousands of masters, millions of Belkan lives, of lives around the dimensions. It's not so strange. But this era does not seem to be filled with war or sorrow, or even if it was, it is such tiny little fragments that she can't even imagine it being longer than a century or two. Minor, planetary things.</p><p>And yet here this child has the quality of such a master.</p><p>The basic information of the world they live in filters in quickly as the Book of Darkness closes and slowly falls from its cautious bob to rest on their master's frail chest. Should he be so unhealthy?</p><p>He sleeps, pained. There's a strange contraption to the side of the bed, folded carefully.</p><p>'Elaine?' she says quietly. 'Are there any enemies?'</p><p>She is silent at first, the tallest of them even kneeling like this. 'None,' she reports back after a moment. 'I thought I smelled something moments ago but I might have been mistaken. There's hardly any signs of magic at least in this location.'</p><p>Well. That's certainly different, isn't it?</p><p>'Then why were we summoned by this pipsqueak?' Anak's voice is irritated in all of their heads in a way that leaves no room for misunderstanding.</p><p>"Anak, he's taller than you," says Elaine.</p><p>'Shut up.'</p><p>He doesn't stir even once and Albelda squints. 'Sachi, check his vitals.'</p><p>'On it."</p><p>And they are silent. They are still. They wait patiently for their master to awaken, even as they scan him.</p><p>When he opens his eyes, Bam barely manages to scream.</p><hr/><p>Five confirmed magical signatures. The Book of Darkness has awoken. Khun dares to yawn, since no one can see him, since no one is watching. Even if someone was, he was thirteen. He could yawn if he wanted, he was a fully fledged mage. Or something.</p><p>He sighs and finishes his report. Well, he could sleep now at the very least. Sending it off, Khun crawls into the bed, the soft futon better than headquarters and blissfully quiet. There are no other Khun running around outside his room, no one tries to steal his things. There is no competition for elite seats here. Just… quiet. Something like peace that probably came at the loss of many, many lives.</p><p>Why would the Book of Darkness choose to come here? To a backwater (by TSAB standards mind, not necessarily living ones, clearly the beds were better here) planet with so little magic, what had summoned it here?</p><p>Or maybe it was who? A single planet without magic could be sacrificed, hell this was listed as number <em>ninety-seven</em>, not low nor high. It was too random in the middle of nowhere. He wonders if Father knows. He wonders if Father cares.</p><p>It isn't uncommon for Khun to fall asleep thinking, it often gave him answers the next day. But he is a very precocious… thirteen-year-old, so he is also prone to things like leaving his window open or sleeping without changing.</p><p>Thus when the doorbell rings at nine am the next day and he wakes up cold, Khun is too startled to remember why he is in that situation for a moment, let alone that he nearly goes down the stairs in his barrier jacket.</p><p>So he opens the door, cursing his own disheveled hair and the looseness of the pajamas he rarely wears on duty, only to meet the brilliant golden eyes of his target holding a pot of crab stew.</p><p>"Good morning!" greets Bam with a sweet smile, and the hulking form of a tall woman with green hair behind him. "My relatives surprised me by visiting last night and I uhm, made too much food. Would you like some?"</p><p>It is, in Khun's honest opinion, too early to deal with this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I blame 90 different amvs for this and also Bam's name. Sorry Bam. Also sorry Khun, you think you're getting out of this alone you're wrong. All wrong! This is for khunbamweek2020 -eyes/dreams</p></blockquote></div></div>
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